- being female rather than male (4 microlives a day)
- Swedish rather than Russian (21 a day for men)
- living in 2010 rather than 1910 (15 a day)

This form of communication allows a general, non-academic audience to make rough but fair comparisons between the sizes of chronic risks, and is based on a metaphor of “speed of ageing,” which has been effective in encouraging cessation of smoking.

The metaphor of speed of ageing and use of the term microlife are intended for popular rather than scientific consumption, but they could also be useful for health professionals. They could perhaps best be communicated with phrases such as “When averaged over a lifetime habit of many people, it is as if each burger were taking 30 minutes off their life.”

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